Jaipur, the capital city of the land of Maharajas: Rajasthan. A city with so much to narrate about the culture and traditions, a city that reflects the royalty of Rajputs; a city with a splendid history. The foundation of the city was laid in the 16th Century by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. The Maharaja did everything to make it a spectacle for the entire world and to keep it safe from intruders. He built a city so grand and so beautiful that we can’t help but admire even today. Everything in Jaipur was built according to Vastu Shastra. With its magnificent forts and palaces, the unrivalled historic architecture of Jaipur narrates a story of grandeur and opulence.

When it comes to the architecture we often talk about palaces and forts and other monuments. But what we often forget is one of the most important parts of our city’s history, the Gates of Jaipur. The popular 7-8 gates of the city are said to be the original entrance into the walled city.

Suraj Pol

Suraj Pol or the Sun Gate is situated at the east of the walled city, in the direction of the rising sun. The gate can easily be identified by the two sun painted on it.

Chand Pol

Chand Pol or the Moon Gate is situated at the western side of the city near Chand Pol Bazaar and Gangauri Bazar. It lies on the same axis as the Suraj Pole Gate.

Ram Pol

Popular as Ghat Gate, it leads its passersby to Ramganj.

Shiv Pol

Now known as the Sanganeri Gate, it leads to the Sanganer. Shiv Pol stands to guard the entry of Johari Bazaar.

Ajmeri Gate

Situated near Choti Chaupad, the gate was built to guard the southern entrance of the walled city and leads on the roads to Ajmer.

Ganga Pol

Situated at the north-east section of the walled city, it is not known to many.

Dhruv Pol

Commonly known as the Zorawar Singh Gate, Dhruv Pol is the northernmost gate of the walled city. It is named after the Pole Star or the Dhruv Tara, a star that marks the North direction. It is also the widest of all the gates.

Naya pol

Now known as the New Gate, it opens at the Chaura Rasta while you travel through the ever-bustling MI Road. The gate showcases a blend of European architecture with local style.

After these 8 gates were built, every evening at dusk a cannon was fired to alarm the citizens of the closing time and the gates remained closed until dawn to keep the city clean of intruders crawling inside the city in dark. This practice continued till the 1940s, thereafter development outside these gates started and the gates remained open.

We went a little further and did some digging only to find that the list of gates is much greater than just 7 or 8.

Sireh Deori Gate

The gate that leads you to the Jaleb Chowk and further to Govind Dev Ji temple and City Palace.

Tripolia Gate

The beautiful white gate near Govind Dev Ji Temple is one of its kinds. The gate is not open to the general public. It is still used only by the erstwhile Royal family, a tradition accepted by the locals without any opposition.

Naqqarkahne ka Darwaza

It might not be of much importance anymore, but the gate during the reign of Maharajas was used to announce their arrival by eulogizing their works.

The magnificent City Palace is known to the world as the residence of the royal family also has a number of awe-striking gates.

Rajendra Pol

Right outside the Mubarak Mahal is a gate that portrays the flamboyant Hindu gatehouse architecture. The Rajendra Pol is flanked by two elephants both of which are carved out of a single marble.

Ganesh Pol

The gate at the exit of the City Palace that leads you out to the Jaleb Chowk.

Ridhisidhi pol

The gate that on exiting the Rajendra Pol, leads you to the Pritam Niwas Chowk.

The Pritam Niwas Chowk is known to have four gates each representing a different season:

Peacock Gate

It is the most alluring gate with paintings of peacocks signifying autumn.

Lotus Gate

With continual flower and petal patterns, it stands as a symbol of summer.

Green Gate

Also called the Leheriya gate, signifies spring.

Rose Gate

With repeated flower patterns, the gate is seen as a symbol of winter.

Today, these gates are merely symbolic; part of city’s history, nostalgia and built heritage. However, they are an important element of Jaipur’s rich architectural legacy for which the city is famous across the world.

Teachers are the torchbearers in our lives. They do not just educate us but also mould us to be better human beings. A good student finds a teacher in anyone and everyone that teaches something, and so are Jaipurites. We have learnt a number of things from our very own teacher Jaipur City.

You are under CCTV Surveillance!

Now that each one of us has got the penalty right at our home for having broken traffic rules at least once on JLN Marg; we have learnt the hard way to beware of those cameras and not break traffic rules.

Being a smarter city

Ever since the Smart City project has been launched, from cleanliness to cycle stands,night tourism to wiping out of stray animals from streets, major changes have been made in our city which taught us to act like smart citizens.

Keeping Jaipur Swacchh

Be it our own house, the abandoned plot next door, or the city roads, there’s an air of change with cleanliness all around. It’s not just a cleanliness project anymore, it’s a motto, and we are learning to follow it along with the epic Swacchh Bharat song!

Hanging out

With a café or lounge mushrooming every now and then in the city, we have truly learnt to hangout in our city. We know all the best places and must-have’s of Jaipur!

Staying fit

Along with the cafés and lounges, fitness centers have also flooded the city. We have not just learnt to digest the calories, but also to burn them up.

Getting used to BTown peeps

With an increasing craze for movie shooting spots and its promotions, there’s a BTown celebrity in our city every now and then in Jaipur and we are getting quite used to it.

Internet-less Survival

The biggest lesson we learnt in the recent past is to survive 48 hours without internet. We hope this adds some meaning to our lives at large :p

Save your license

We’ve finally learnt that if we really wish to drive in future, we need to stop talking on phone while driving, once and for all. The recently passed rule empowers the traffic police to cancel your license if you’re caught talking on the phone while driving.

Switching to Organic Products

With brimming pollution in the city and bans to turn it down, we learnt to abandon plastic and shift to eco-friendly substitutes of things like fibre bags, earthen or glass bottles etc.

Patience

Out of all the lessons taught to us by our city, the greatest one is Patience! Be it traffic jams, queues at our favourite food joints, waiting at the restaurants, or food delivery at home; we Jaipurites have learnt to keep our calm!